1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sandwiched device (peripheral device) installed adjacent to a gaming machine and, more particularly, to a method of detecting an illegal action for obtaining the face image of an illegal player using the sandwiched device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a game arcade in which, for example, pachinko gaming machines or pachi-slot machines are installed, various systems are constructed in order to detect an illegal player. As an example, the system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-312510, the position of a player who moves about in a game arcade is detected, and the face image of the player is obtained based on the detected position and the gaming machine with which the player played a game is identified, and thus, an illegal action is detected and prevented.
In the above system, it is necessary to install a plurality of cameras on the ceiling etc. in the game arcade in order to detect the position of a player and obtain the image of the player's face, and because of the cost of installation, there is a certain limit to the reduction in cost of the entire system. In addition, a player who moves about in the game arcade does not necessarily move at a fixed speed at all times and the moving speed varies irregularly. When imaging in such circumstances, it is difficult to continue keeping an illegal player, who is a subject, in focus. As a result, there may be a case where it is not possible to image the face of an illegal player with high definition and in such a case, it is difficult to obtain information about an illegal action with high reliability. Further, it takes work and time to confirm which gaming machine the player having the imaged face played with and therefore it is difficult to efficiently detect an illegal action.